Many 1980s arcade games are massively blatant ripoffs of American action movies. After Burner is Top Gun. Renegade and Double Dragon pretty much is The Warriors. And all of the Data East action games (Heavy Barrel, Thunder Zone, Bloody Wolf, etc.) are an amalgamation of every Rambo-style movie ever made. Sega's Alien Syndrome is pretty clearly a rip off of the movie Aliens, since Konami had the actual license to the movie (and made their own suitable arcade entry.)

Although Alien Syndrome looks like a typical overhead, character based shooter, it is a pretty far stretch from linear games like Commando. Players can take control of either Ricky or Mary (outer space commandos who are absolutely in no way related to Michael Biehn or Sigourney Weaver), or both during simultaneous two-player action. Each of the stages takes place on one of seven invaded colonies, where the aliens have trapped the humans in cocoons and biologically contaminated most of the structures.

Ricky (Arcade)

Mary (Arcade)

Ricky (NES)

Mary (NES)

As an insurance plan in case Ricky and Mary can't save the day, each of the colonies is set to explode after a certain amount of time. You're therefore working against the clock to find enough hostages, get to the exit, and kill the boss. The stages aren't particularly complex, but there are maps posted around that will clue you in on the locations of your comrades. In addition to your clumsy little pea shooter, you can also find new weapons like lasers and two different kinds of flamethrower, in addition to options that shoot behind your character. With the constantly spawning enemies, Alien Syndrome manages to emulate the feel of Gauntlet without all of the clumsiness.

Alien Syndrome has no tolerance for screw-ups. You cannot continue, at all. While the levels don't pose too much of a challenge, some of the boss encounters can be quite difficult, especially if you get killed and revert to the default cannon. You're even forced to use it during the final confrontation, regardless of how well you've done.

Alien Syndrome

Absolute Terror

The high difficulty level adds to an atmosphere of complete terror. The music is tense, low-key, and incredibly creepy. A single tap from an enemy and your player will cry out a blood-curdling scream before collapsing. It's all rather unnerving.

But what really makes the game memorable are the awesomely grotesque boss designs. The first boss is a gigantic rotund ball with a little green dude sticking out from whatever would be classed as its shoulder. After taking enough hits the body explodes, leaving behind a head which morphs into some kind of twisted thing with an extended jaw and ugly horns when it attacks. The second boss appears to be a pulsating heart surrounded by blobs. The third boss is a strange, lumbering, multi-legged creature with eyes that detach and float around the screen, which looks both goofy and horrific. The sixth boss is an alien grasshopper with what appears to be a baby’s head. The final boss, which hijacks itself onto your ship a la the finale of the original Alien, looks like half of a human face stripped of its skin, leaving another head dangling from its nose, and huge distended ears that fire bullets. The "body horror" aspect is still the best part of this classic.

The Famicom / NES version – published by Sunsoft in Japan and Tengen in America – is relatively faithful to the arcade version, even offering two-player simultaneous play and a new intro cinema. The characters walk much slower, though, and you must rescue every single prisoner before you can fight the boss. The bosses are also pretty similar, although some of their attacks had to be scaled down.

Alien Syndrome (NES)

More Like a Remake

The Sega Master System version is practically a whole new game. The scrolling is gone, and instead it flips screen-by-screen like the original The Legend of Zelda. All of the levels are completely different (although the first stage is patterned after the second level of the arcade game), and each feels more maze-like. Some of the enemies are the same, but the vast majority are unique to this version. On that note, while a few of the bosses have been carried over (although slightly altered), most of them are entirely new, and manage to be just as awesome as the arcade bosses, despite the lower color palette. The weapons have been cut down, so there’s only flamethrower and laser power-ups. Sadly, there’s no map at all.

However, the game is even
more difficult than the arcade
version, impossibly so. Each room
starts out empty and foes slowly
blink onto the screen. It’s way too
easy to accidentally have an
enemy appear beneath you for a
cheap kill. Most of the weapons
have a slow firing rate, so if you
fire before an enemy has
completely appeared it’ll pass
harmlessly through them. This
leaves you defenseless for a
second, which can be the
difference between life and death.

Alien Syndrome (Sega Master System)

Fight For Your Life

The boss fights are even more
unforgiving, since they have a
tendency to back you into a corner
and use a simple three-way bullet
pattern that’s nearly impossible to
dodge, given the close quarters.
Furthermore, the hit detection is
quite sloppy and striking the
enemy’s weak point seems like a
matter of chance. Again, there are
no continues, and the standard
weapon is useless, so if you get
killed you may as well give up.
The only real high point is the
tremendously scary death
screams, which are even louder
and more disturbing than the
arcade version.

The Game Gear release is,
oddly enough, the best of the 8-bit
home ports. According to the
intro, this version is actually a
sequel set five years after the
original Alien Syndrome. The
gameplay is much like the arcade
version, with many of the same
bosses, although there are four
(mostly) new levels. You can now
access the map screen at any
time, and can power up weapons
by grabbing the same kind twice.
It still suffers from a bit of
slowdown and flicker, but it’s
surprisingly cool, and has some
awesome cover artwork.

As far as computer ports go,
all of are based on the arcade
version. The Commodore 64
release is pretty decent, barring
some slow screen-scrolling. The
Amiga, Atari ST and PC versions
are graphically identical, and
feature some redesigned, brighter
visuals. Both suffer from some
jerky scrolling; the Amiga has the
upper hand for sound but is
missing a few levels. Still, they
both play pretty well.

The X68000 version, ported
by Dempa, is practically arcade-perfect.
The only other nearly perfect
port is found on Sonic’s
Ultimate Genesis Collection for
PS3 and Xbox 360.

Ricky (PS2)

Mary (PS2)

After disappearing for
approximately 15 years, Sega
resurrected Alien Syndrome for
their Sega Ages 2500 series,
which appeared in the US in the
Sega Classics Collection, but was
absent from the European release.
The 3D graphics aren’t pretty, and
they’re way too dark, but they do
a decent job of emulating the feel
of the Alien movies.

The biggest change is the
addition of dual analog movement,
so you can move with one stick
and fire with the other as in
Robotron 2084 and Smash TV.
There are a few new
weapons, including some useless
grenades and a spread shot. The
pacing is a bit slower, but feels
more chaotic, with more being
thrown at you at once. However,
you also now have a life bar, along
with unlimited continues, so it’s
not nearly as tense as the original
arcade game, losing some of its
appeal. Sega also increased the
gore quotient by making bad guys
explode in a mess of blood.